The Darkest Secret

«Okay. Okay. Whatever. Just relax. You’re entitled to your opinion, and I’m entitled to mine.»

«Mine is the only one that matters!» With a roar, Amun launched at Strider again. They fell to the floor in a tangle of violence.

«Stop,» Lucien commanded. «Now.»

«Let them finish,» Sabin said.

Amun tuned them out. His fists pounded at Strider, his legs kicked. Strider, of course, began fighting back. They rolled together and slammed into the table. Plates shattered, food splattered. Both of them knew how to fight, and fight dirty. Knew how to stop a heart from beating, how to break a femur with a well-placed kick, how to smash a trachea and prevent oxygen from making it into greedy lungs. They did all of that and more.

And still they kept fighting, no one trying to separate them. Amun’s hands soon swelled from continuous impact with bone, his fingers refusing to bend. Dizziness washed through him, black winking over his vision, but even that didn’t slow him. When this was over, Strider was going to regret his thoughts and words. Strider was going to admit how special Haidee had been.

Defeat’s nose broke under the next strike of Amun’s palm. Blood poured. That crimson flow reminded him of what Hate had done to Haidee — fangs digging into her beautiful neck — and that only increased the depths of his rage.

«Tell me you appreciate what she did for us. Tell me!»

«You want me to lie? She was a Hunter,» Strider shouted, a few of his teeth missing. «A killer.»

«We’re killers!» Another strike. Another direct hit. Two pearly whites sailed through the air.

«Damn it!» Defeat’s rage increased as well, and he kneed Amun in the groin. «She couldn’t be trusted. I realized that. Why can’t you?» The words were slurred as they pushed through the empty spaces where his teeth had been.

Amun shook off the pain. What was physical pain after the emotional agony of losing his woman, anyway? He dove into Strider’s middle, sending the warrior flailing to the ground. On impact, Strider lost his breath. The warrior was quick to recover, and they rolled, still pounding on each other — until they slammed into one of the table legs and cracked the wood.

Amun stilled, glaring down at the man he’d once called brother. «I trusted her more than I trusted anyone else. Even you.»

Strider pushed, sending Amun stumbling to the other side of the room. «How can you say—'

«No, you don’t get to speak.» Once again, he closed the distance between them. No mercy. Secrets knew Strider planned to kick, and so Amun jumped out of the way, spun, punched and ducked, punched and ducked. «You wanted her, but you would have tortured her. You would have ruined her.»

«No.» Somehow, Strider dodged every blow.

«You might, might, have been able to love her, but only after you’d broken her.» Finally, contact.

Strider hunched over, trying to catch the breath he’d only just found. «Don’t you see what’s happening? She’s dead, but still she’s pulling us apart. I love you. I left this fortress for you. So you could have her.»

«You left this fortress for you.» No mercy, he thought again. «You couldn’t win her, and you knew it.» Amun kneed him in the chin, sending Strider tumbling back into another wall. «I would have married her, pampered her, and I would have expected every single one of you to accept her. But you wouldn’t have, would you? She was just another challenge to you. But you know what? She rejected you, and you walked away from her without a flicker of pain. That changes now. You will feel pain. You know why? Because I challenged you, and you just lost.» With that, Amun punched him. Punched him so hard his jawbone dislocated completely.

Strider was knocked unconscious. Even then, he was in physical pain, moaning from the mental anguish of his defeat.

Amun kicked him while he was down. Again and again.

Someone grabbed him from behind and jerked him away, holding him so tightly he couldn’t quite draw in a breath. Yet still he fought. His woman had been slighted. He wouldn’t stop until he was appeased. And he would never be appeased.

«I’m going with her,» he shouted. «Do you hear me? I’m going to die with her! And if you don’t watch your stupid mouth, I’ll take you along, too!»

Strider released another moan, this one far more pained.

The warriors holding Amun must have sensed his determination because they ceased trying to hold him and started trying to subdue him.

«We need you,» he heard.

«Don’t talk like that, all right.»

«You’ll get through this.»

«No. No!» His body was already badly beaten, weakened, but still he fought, his rage like a living entity.

«It’s gonna be okay, buddy.»

«No!»

They squeezed tighter.

«Let us help you.»

«What if we spoke to the angel? What if something could be done?»

«Something can be done,» he snarled.

Tighter still.

Haidee, he screamed inside his head then. Soon, I’ll be with you soon. We’ll be… His thoughts fragmented. His motions were slowing. We’ll be together again.

Darkness rained down like poisoned arrows. He welcomed the storm with open arms.

Chapter Thirty

«Amun,» a gentle voice called.

Amun fought his way through the darkness, slashing at it as determinedly as he remembered slashing at Strider. That voice, so familiar, so necessary. Forever lost.

«Amun, baby. Wake up.»

His struggles increased until finally, amazingly, he was able to blink open his eyes — and what he saw took his breath away. Haidee. His beautiful Haidee. She loomed above him, peering down at him with those pearl-gray eyes.

Had the warriors killed him as he’d wanted? he wondered. No, they couldn’t have. Inside his head, Secrets was sighing with relief, picking up on something, a mystery, a truth, but was unable to sort through the details.

How was Haidee here?

Am I dreaming? He didn’t dare speak again. Just in case. He would not spoil this moment with a spew of secrets. Besides, if this moment was steeped in falsehood, he didn’t want to know. Wait. Don’t tell me. Just stay right where you are.

«No, baby. I’m here.» She smoothed the hair plastered to his brow, and he felt the coolness of her touch. «We’re in your bedroom, the place we first met.»

He studied her, certain this had to be a trick. Her pink and blond locks were in tangles around her shoulders, and her lips were swollen from where she’d chewed them. Her eyes were aglow with love and warmth.

«This isn’t a trick,» she said. «I’m real.»

But you died. I watched you die. Was told you couldn’t be reanimated by Hate any longer.

«And that’s the truth. I was reanimated by something else this time.»